1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to vehicle doors and, more specifically, to vehicle doors arranged on the side of van-type vehicles.
2. Description of Related Art
In the manufacture and sale of automotive vehicles of the type generally referred to as "vans", it is customary to provide for ingress and egress to rear portions of the vehicle body through a rearwardly placed side door or doors positioned on at least one side of the vehicle. The doors come generally in two types: sliding doors and center opening, outwardly swinging cargo doors.
Continuing study into the resistance of the body structures of these van-type vehicles to the imposition of external forces has resulted in the establishment of certain design goals for enhancing the resistance of side vehicle structures to imposition of such loads.
It is known in the prior art to enhance the resistance of side impact of a vehicle door through the provision of special formations at top and bottom edges of the door such as is exemplified in U.S. Pat. No. 3,776,588 to Sobajima et al. It is also known to provide interengageable locking elements between a door and a vehicle body as exemplified in U.S. Pat. No. 3,819,228 to Cornacchia. Both of these exemplary teachings, however, require substantial modification of the adjacent vehicle body structure and, importantly, do not treat problems in the dynamics of deflection occasioned by the nonsolid interface between the two doors of the set of cargo doors.